Hiss on Phono

[Confused]

I'm running an MC and yes, there is some hiss which can be clearly heard if the amp is turned up to say 0dB, which is a lot higher than I normally run.  I think this is probably to be expected when you consider the huge amount of gain involved.  I must admit that I don't like the idea of a step up transformer, something else in the signal path as it were.  However, reading the posts above, and considering transformers are not far off 100% efficient, I think this is an option well worth exploring.

In a conventional phono stage there is normally an active amplifier before the RIAA stage in the mc input which isn't used  with MM. Personally I prefer a transformer to the active stage, though I do not know why... I have used one (or a phono stage with built in transformer) rather than gain stage on and off for the last 30 years or so.
With the Devialet this may be different. I didn't ask Mathieu (who designed the D-Premier phono stage). I presume there will be some sort of active amp to get the level in the right ballpark for the adc, and if so the gain will be much higher when configured for mc.

Actually, stupidly enough, the reason I ended up using the SUT with the Devialet (I had used the mc input of my Goldmund PH2) was to do with cables
The Goldmund T3f arm has proprietary connectors and the cable did not reach to the Devialet. Using the SUT between them gave me more distance so I could put the amp where I wanted it, and it sounded really good to me so I stuck with it.
I have moved stuff around now, so I could try again direct - if I could be bothered to do that rather than enjoying listening to some music.

Frank - If you find the phono stage quiet with 109dB/1m efficiency speakers, and myself and some others with mc's find the phono stage a little noisy, the evidence is becoming compelling that a step up transformer could be beneficial.  But does an SUT have any downsides?  I guess so, for example an extra cable & additional connections are required, which must cause at least some losses.  With respect to my own comment that transformers are 100% efficient, I note that SUT's vary enormously in price, and to be honest I can't think if this is something worth splashing considerable amounts of cash on or not.  Maybe lower priced SUT's are all you need, maybe worth paying a little extra.  I run an Ortofon Cadenza black, and Ortofon alone will sell you an SUT at rather different price points.  Worthy of further investigation though, I can feel a home demo coming on ....